1950s Portsmouth City Sticker

One of the hardest things about promoting tourism is coming up with simple clear slogans and strong iconic images. Portsmouth has often called itself “The City of the Open Door,” but that phrase may not resonate as strongly today as it did during the Colonial Revival. Before that, our ancestors imagined NH’s only seaport as “The Old Town by the Sea.” Today the Chamber Collaborative has simplified the slogan down to “GOportsmouth” and describes us as “a picturesque coastal gem.”

This colorful post-World War II era souvenir decal offered a mixture of architecture old and new from three key sites that were in the public eye at mid-century. The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, now replaced by at $70 million span, was brand new in 1940. The Portsmouth Harbor Light, then as now, was a source of maritime pride, although located in New Castle, NH. And the 1715 Warner House, almost torn down and replaced by a gas station in the 1920s, had been saved from destruction by a Boston couple with Portsmouth ancestral ties. To our collective credit, all three of these structures made for an artsy bumper or window sticker If we were to recreate this sticker today, what  images would we use? 

(c) SeacoastHistory.com